Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant: A Threat To South India

 VT Padmanabhan

Cesium is a radioactive element created when a uranium atom is fissioned in the nuclear reactor. About 100 trillion trillion (10^26) atoms of cesium were released and was deposited in almost all places in the Northern hemisphere from Chernobyl in Ukraine when a reactor melt down and exploded in 1986. That would mean about one trillion atoms for every square meter of land and sea. From there, cesium gives off its gamma radiation, some 400 disintegration in every second from every square meter of land till 2016. After that, there will be 200 disintegrations per second till 2046. Each one of those disintegrations has the potential to damage your health or the health of your unborn child. Estimate of cesium and other radioactive particles being released from Fukushima will be available in about a month.

The element cesium has no role in the biosphere. However, since it mimics potassium, plants take it up and it is thus pushed up in the food chain. The other radionuclides that mimic bioactive active elements are strontium and plutonium, which are stored in the bone as they look like calcium. Nuclear fission generate some 600 isotopes, of which 14 carbon (an isotope of carbon with 8 neutrons), tritium (hydrogen isotope with two neutrons), five isotopes of iodine, cesium, strontium and plutonium are more important internal emitters.

150 million people live in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the peninsular India, 25 million more than that in Japan . It is the spices capital of the world. People cultivate cardamom, pepper, tea, coffee, ginger, turmeric, coconut, cashew and many more edible crops. Besides, our fishermen harvest exotic fishes high in nutrition and low in carbon footprint from the seas and the backwaters. These reach the food baskets of more than half the population of this planet.

A large portion of the land in this Spice Capital of the world will be severely contaminated if a Fukushima type event occurs in one of the eight 1000 MW(e) reactors being built/ planned in Kudankulam near Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu. Besides ruining the lives of our farmers and fishermen, this will deprive billions of people of their spices.

Map of Kudankulam target area and approximate population living there are given below.

LAND AND PEOPLE IN KUDANKULAM TARGET AREA
Distance	Total	Total	Range	Area in	Population
from	Area	Population	km	Range	in the
Source	Sq Km	in Area		Sq km	range
					407
500	392857	159892857	400-500	141429	57561429
400	251429	102331429	300-400	110000	44770000
300	141429	57561429	250-300	43214	17588214
250	98214	39973214	200-250	35357	14390357
200	62857	25582857	150-200	27500	11192500
150	35357	14390357	100-150	19643	7994643
100	15714	6395714	50-100	11786	4796786
50	3929	1598929	40-50	1414	575614
40	2514	1023314	30-40	1100	447700
30	1414	575614	20-30	786	319786
20	629	255829	10-20	471	191871
10	157	63957	5 -10	118	47968
5	39	15989	0 -5	39	15989
Note: Average population density in three states in 2001 was 407.
Since Kudankulam is a coastal site, the area is a semicircle.
Since this is on the southern tip, the area and population will
lesser than what is given above. This is only an approximation.

THANKS TO ONAM

This is an article appeared in New Indian Express, thanks to 

Onam: Yearning for corruption-free governance

http://expressbuzz.com/states/kerala/onam-yearning-for-corruption-free-governance/312198.html

Dr Perumal Koshy

Express News Service
Last Updated : 09 Sep 2011 11:40:03 AM IST


This year, on the occasion of Onam, the entire nation is in a contemplative and argumentative mood over the debate about corruption. Ironically, when King Mahabali, the legendary icon, in whose remembrance Onam is celebrated, ruled Kerala, there was no corruption.

Mahabali was a king with a difference. There was happiness and prosperity in his kingdom, discrimination of any kind was unheard of, there was no sorrow or poverty or disease and contentment reigned supreme. And Onam commemorates this bygone era and the glorious reign of Mahabali.

Whether such an era existed or not, legend says this king provided corruption-free governance. And this is something that people across the world, at all periods of time, have yearned for. During Mahabali’s time there was no crime and thieves and therefore, no need for people to lock their doors at night. His citizens were truthful, because they had no reason to deceive. Or loot. Also, they were people with high moral and ethical values and did not encourage corruption by paying bribes!

Onam is an occasion for Keralites to rededicate their lives to stand up for such high moral and ethical values in life. This makes them a group of people who constantly fight against various injustices in society.

I think Mahabali’s kingdom and its ethos have contributed much to modern Kerala and its political culture. The vibrant democracy of Kerala is a living example of the spirit and the urge for just & corruption-free governance.

Eradicating corrupt practices is something that has to begin from our souls. Only with the total transformation of an individual can corruption be eradicated from society. But this can happen only at a time when our conscience starts ruling over us. Thus, Mahatma Gandhi wanted to listen to his inner voice or conscience in a spirit of love and compassion. His search for listening to the conscience was an attempt to purify and transform him. It was a spiritual exercise in search of truth.

Similarly, Onam in that sense, is a spiritual exercise of a different kind, as far as I am concerned. Not many may agree with me. However, this is my experience. Onam, no doubt has got several aspects attached to it. In the modern era, it may be much commercialised, as more tourists come to the state during this period and people spend money excessively.

Onam is also a food festival and other several related cultural extravaganzas are also part of Onam. However, the overriding spirit of Onam is the longing for the coming back of an era where there is no corruption, poverty, hunger and injustice.

Onam’s political relevance is that citizens of modern Kerala get an opportunity to imagine and hope for a corruption-free government. Corruption-free governmental system catches their imagination every year and they celebrate that, which is their satyagraha, a hope for the coming back of a rule by Mahabali.

As coming back of Mahabali could be a matter of doubt, so they rededicate themselves to live as ‘His’ citizens as the legend says ‘there was no corruption during his time’.

So no scope for fake truth seekers as the country is witnessing now. In Kerala, people often protest and agitate against injustices or wrong policies etc. The source of their strength to protest against an injustice comes from their belief that they should fight for a good society. This is the result of the yearly practice of Onam, which is a satyagraha.

People, deep from their hearts, long for a clean system and corruption-free government that Mahabali only can provide. Here people are united. Though it has some association with Hindu traditions, no longer it belongs to any particular religion. It is part of Kerala’s common culture. Mahabali is Kerala’s political symbol of spirituality and he is God who visits every year and purifies people’s hearts.

That annual visit of Mahabali makes Kerala, God’s Own Country, keep a check on corruption and other vices. Onam celebrations generally last for ten days. It is the power that they gain through these ten days’ long spiritual exercise, done in unison with all communities, castes and ideological groups, that make Kerala immune from large-scale corruption that we see in some other parts of the country. Its political leaders are much poorer compared to their counterparts from other states.

Kerala has a number of achievements in many areas, especially in the human and social development front. In the economic development front it is in a fast race with the rest of the country. In IT and tourism Kerala has already started moving very fast. It is emerging as a hot business hub of India.

With satyagraha exercise, the ten-day Onam rituals, Mahabali would bless Kerala abundantly and in the next 10 years Kerala would be transformed to be a showpiece for the entire world in the emerging knowledge and green economy. Its achievements in economic front, as in the human & social development front, would be very unique.

Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson said in the larger Indian context that, “ Bapu ( Gandhiji) would never have allowed corruption scenario to reach this level. He would have become active when the disease (corruption) was at a nascent stage and not when it has reached alarming proportions.” Yes only those who listen to the inner voice or conscience can be a satyagrahi. There is a difference between truth seeking and being an opportunist.

But of late, Onam is taking a commercial shape, and its ethos is threatening to get buried in all the fanfare and ostentation that have come to be associated with it. Keralites should be alert to this danger and strive hard to keep alive the spiritual aspect of Onam in order to continue their mission of being true citizens of Mahabali kingdom.

(The writer is Senior Economist, World Association for Small and Medium Enterprises. e-mail: caushie@gmail.com, Mob.09953871432)